DUFFY'S PETS AND TANZILLA HARNESS SUPPLY RACE DAY!!

Sunday February 14th - that's right! Valentine's Day - what better place to spend it, on a (predicted) balmy day out in the snowfields around Icy Waters Ltd, racing (or watching) dogs with sleds or skis - with the delight of the "kiss-your-handler" (or anyone else really, dogs included) at the start and finish line to win your very own aluminium wrapped Yukon Brewing T-Shirt! Annnnd not forgetting the 10 Dog Food blocks for best Fancy-Dressed Skijorer or sled/musher, and the special carved Moose ear (sorry, antler) Valentines trophy for First in the 8 mile.

Now to the serious stuff: Meet 10.00am Icy Waters Ltd, km 4.2 Fish Lake Rd

8 mile - sleds 2-5 dogs; skis 2-4 dogs
5km Kids - sleds 2-4 dogs, skis 1-3 dogs
5km Pet Dog - 1 pet dog attached to you - run, ski, bike whatever you like, but no engines!

(5km trail hard and fast due to Norcope ploughing the road to their entrance, no gravel exposed)

Lots of luverly cash from Duffy's Pets and Tanzilla Harness Supply, and merchandise from Icy Waters Ltd, C&D Feeds, Yukon Ag Association, Yukon Grain Farm, Circle D Ranch - Drury's Elk Farm, Yukon Honda, First Mate Dog Food, Yukon Brewing and Midnight Sun Alpacas.

Volunteers needed, as the Quest has stolen some of our regulars - Arctic Charr fillets as a thank you, plus the volunteer draw prizes!

RR100 - sleds 2: skis 2

Pierre Duc from Carcross signs up in RR100 sled division!

With snow seemingly continually falling these past few days, the big trail/skidoo packing gang arranged for this weekend is looking good. If anyone wants to help out on the trail between Mendenhall and Haines Junction this weekend please call Stacie Zaychuk at 667 4502, the more the merrier, and the better trail packing!

RR100 Sign up Flash

Skijorers presently outnumber the sleds with Gaetan Pierrard and Jon Lucas (Snowpigs) already signed up for the 100 mile skis, and Claudia Wickert paid up for the 100 mile sled. 8 Skijor and 24 sled poitions remain available, sign up closes on Feb 20th!

Race Route finalised as: Shipyards Park (Whitehorse), Yukon River, Takhini River, Dawson Overland Trail, 37 mile road connector to Sebastien's Blue Kennels, Highway to Mendenhall, Highway to Pine Lake, Pine Lake (Jaines Junction) to its campground and the Finish.

Dave Mondor - Pics from Oscar's Electric Race Day

Cynthia Corriveau snowploughs down the final hill

Darrell Otto's Puppy Team having a great time!

Who says dogs don't like running? Drag 'n' Fy Team 2 eating up the trail

Show me the Money!

Road Runner Sponsors come through and the money starts to come in - Many thanks to Arctic Backhoe, Icy Waters Ltd, Whitehorse Motors, CKRW, and Klondyke Dental Clinic.

You too can sponsor the Inaugural Road Runner 100, simply make out a cheque to DPSAY - see that was easy, and contact DPSAY through www.dpsay.wordpress.com !

RR100 (beep beep) Newsflash

Veterinarians Carolynne Fujda (Lots of Latitude Mobile Vet) and Helen Eddy (Alpine Vet Clinic) confirm as your RR100 vets!!

January Pooper Scoop

Jim Hajash and Lee Kirkpatrick's entire dog yard took a run on the first 8-Mile Copper Haul of the new year.
Here, Jim takes a corner with four puppies on a training run. Although skittish in head-on passes, when the right wheel, Smith, tied it up in a snowbank, the string stayed taut to be untangled before the final loop.

Tony Radford hitched six Drag-n-Flies to the Risdon Rig he purchased from Dave and Heather Desmarais. Along with testing the agility and flex of the cambered steering rig, right, Tony took it on a crash test with Jeff Diment in the blind corner at the electric fence. Not exactly bombproof, Tony's red racer did earn him a speedy first place start to the new year.

Moderate temperatures, firm base, soft light and snowfall gave Laura Lucas with Jonathan's Grizzly Snowpigs perfect conditions for dog sports. "I groom this trail all the time for the Twister, but hadn't realised how much fun it was on a dog sled, even with only 4 dogs in a 6 dog race."


SPOT test and the Yukon Quest:

Wendy Morrison recruited Twisters Laura Lucas, Claudia Wickert, Jim Hajash, Tony Radford, Cythnia Corriveau and Gunter Glaser to test SPOT tracking devices for the Yukon Quest. As a new sponsor to the 1000-mile sled dog race, SPOT has supplied tracking devices to all mushers who want them. Twisters also tested carrying pouches supplied by SPOT.

"We were brainstorming about how to mount these to sleds and came up with this idea," Morrison said. "We'd like you to test them before we send them down a thousand miles of trail," she told Twisters.

SPOTs tend to work better if mounted so they are unobstructed to the sky, rather than tucked in a jacket. Twisters mounted the palm-sized satellite trackers to the inside stantion, crossbar under the bow, and on the brush bow. All units displayed perfect tracking functions. Help signals will be monitored by the Race Marshall and Yukon Quest staff. The units are optional this year, Morrison said, but they allow the Quest to monitor mushers' progress on the trail in case of emergency.

Mike and Jessica Simon will be trailside, keeping water liquid for Jocelyn LeBlanc, Hans Gatt, Gerry Willometzer and all the other Quest mushers who pull into Scroggie Creek checkpoint. We won't be at the next CHT meet, though. So if you need to volunteer for the CHT, we'll need the help in February. Good luck to all the mushers out there and happy trails.

5 km Kids:
Erin Spicer demonstrates the techniques that have earned her the top spot in the kids league.



And here, Jesse Dougherty zips through the trees to a first place meet finish.



5-km Pets:
This month's pet league seems to have benefitted from the resolve of pet owners across town to spend more time with their dogs. Below Sandro competes in the 5 k canicross:

League darling, Tiramisu, took second this month, after a sit-down strike on last weekend's Carbon Hill Race. Today, "she was really perky at the start and into the final loop, but coming back, it was more of a walk," Pippa Lawson said.

In this clip league newcomers Honzo Balar and Cynthia Friedrich glide into the bushes.

Thanks to Race Day sponsor Oscar's Electric for boosting the purse, and all our prize sponsors: Yukon Agriculture Association, First Mate Dog Food, Yukon Grain Farm, Icy Waters, Yukon Brewing, Yukon Honda, Drury's Elk Farm, and Grizzly Pigs Farm.

Next month, meet on Valentine's Day at 10 a.m. for more Twister fun at Icy Waters km 4, Fish Lake Road. Volunteers encouraged.

posted by Jessica Simon yukonwriter@lycos.com
photos and footage by Mike Simon